Women's Volleyball

Spielbauer and Taylor Recognized by NEWVA

Senior Katie Spielbauer and freshman Ada Taylor

Nov 16, 2012

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – The New England Women's Volleyball Association (NEWVA) tabbed senior Katie Spielbauer (Lakeview, Mich.) and freshman Ada Taylor (Durham, N.C.) for its end of the season All-New England Awards as announced by the organization on Thursday. Spielbauer earned a spot on the first team while Taylor collected Rookie of the Year and All-Rookie Team accolades.

Spielbauer's honor comes after receiving AVCA New England Region Team, NEWMAC Athlete of the Year, NEWMAC first team all-conference, NEWMAC academic all-conference, and CoSIDA academic all-district accolades. She closed her career ranking second in digs (1,984), tied for second digs per set (4.03), and seventh in aces (186). This season, Spielbauer's average of 5.24 digs per set is second on MIT's top 10 list while her tally of 665 digs is the third-best all-time..

Taylor became the fourth player in program history to earn NEWVA Rookie of the Year plaudits, joining Kamilah Alexander '96, Austin Zimmerman '06, and Alex May '10 on the list of previous recipients. During the past 10 days, she was named to the AVCA All-America third team, was the AVCA New England Region Freshman of the Year, picked up NEWMAC second team all-conference plaudits, and was voted to the NCAA New England Regional All-Tournament Team. Taylor finished the season ranked second in the country in hitting percentage (.428), which was the second-best performance in Institute history. In addition, she was third in the NEWMAC in blocks with a tally of 92.